Dennis Cirkin is set to return to the Sunderland squad tomorrow, Tony Mowbray has confirmed. The defender has been out of action since the beginning of September when he suffered a hamstring injury during the Black Cats' defeat at Middlesbrough, and has missed the last three games.
But Cirkin resumed training last week and is in contention for tomorrow night's game against Blackpool at the Stadium of Light, with Mowbray saying he is likely to include the 20-year-old on the bench. "Dennis is ready," said Mowbray.
"I would say Dennis will be on the bench tomorrow night, without giving too much away. He's over his injury, he's trained, I had a good chat with him and together we felt that there was no need to risk it at the weekend.
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"He was OK and he had trained for a day or two but he probably wanted the weekend to train. He trained yesterday and today, and then in his mind he'll be ready.
"That's probably the best way, to make sure the footballer believes he is ready and that you're not pushing him back in too early. I would expect to see Dennis on the teamsheet tomorrow night."
French midfielder Edouard Michut remains the only one of Sunderland's summer signings who has yet to appear at first-team level, but Mowbray says he is very close to being involved. Mowbray said: "He fell a bit behind when he first came here. He tweaked his calf in his first training session, and I think he felt that the intensity of the training was more than he had been used to at Paris St Germain.
"He had to acclimatise and he fell a week behind, but he is catching up. Then he played in the U21s at Bishop Auckland against Middlesbrough last week and got sent off.
"But I'm looking hard now to give him an opportunity, and the supporters will see that he is more than capable of playing in our first team because he is very elegant with the football, he has lovely feet, he has good passing range, and he's very confident with the ball. He'll slap it through the lines to the front players and take people out of the game with his passing.
"It will be very soon when he is involved and around the team. I can feel a little bit of frustration from him which I don't mind, because when you feel the frustration and then you give them the opportunity, it is up to them.
"He's on that line, really, where I can't keep disappointing him and he will be given that opportunity very soon."
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